Page 9 - AsianOil Week 09 2022

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ONGC makes progress offshore in KG Basin

PROJECTS & INDIA’S state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp. The Hindu BusinessLine reported that
COMPANIES (ONGC) is advancing its developments in the ONGC may take its partnership with US-based
Krishna Godavari (KG) Basin, offshore Andhra super-major ExxonMobil further by partner-
Pradesh. ing with it on the UD-1 development. The two
The company is developing the giant companies have been evaluating offshore Indian
KG-DWN-98/2 block, and recently provided potential together and it was reported in Octo-
an update to the Hindu BusinessLine about its ber 2021 that ExxonMobil was considering
ultra-deepwater find, UD-1, within that block. acquiring a stake in some of ONGC’s deepwater
“Out of four appraisal wells planned, two assets.
wells have been drilled and both wells proved The Indian company also said it was work-
to be gas-bearing,” an ONGC official told the ing on production enhancement contracts for
newspaper on February 27, referring to the six blocks. “As part of its action plan, ONGC
ultra-deepwater find. The official added that has been planning for [a] tariff-based produc-
production testing at those two wells was in line tion enhancement contract model for six fields,”
with expectations, yielding roughly 750,000 another ONGC official was quoted by the Hindu
cubic metres per day. BusinessLine as saying.
The company has been slow to develop the ONGC is among the oil companies seeing
both the ultra-deepwater discovery and others their share price rise thanks to the higher price of
in the KG-DWN-98/2 block owing to technical crude. Overseas, the company’s ONGC Videsh
challenges and, more recently, delays associated Ltd (OVL) unit will need to decide how to keep
with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In operating the Sakhalin-1 project in Russia after
mid-February, ONGC warned that peak output ExxonMobil announced that it would exit the
from the block may not be reached until 2023-24. country in response to the invasion of Ukraine.™

SOUTHEAST ASIA

JERA to pursue LNG-to-power in Vietnam

PROJECTS & JAPAN’S JERA announced on March 1 that it
COMPANIES had kicked off full-scale operations in Vietnam.
The company – a 50:50 joint venture between
utilities Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) and
Chubu Electric Power – intends to pursue LNG-
to-power projects through its new Vietnamese
unit.
JERA said it had “positioned Vietnam as
a priority country” and was “considering the
development of several LNG-to-power projects
that will contribute to both decarbonisation and
to a stable supply of energy that supports eco-
nomic growth”. The company’s JERA Energy
Vietnam subsidiary has established Hanoi as its
operational base in the country. the facility’s basic design is expected to begin in
The announcement from JERA comes days March.
after media reported that it was partnering with JERA is launching its Vietnamese operations
ExxonMobil on a Vietnamese LNG-to-power as Japan – the world’s largest importer of LNG
project. Nikkei Asia said on January 27 that the until it was edged out by China last year – tries to
project would entail 6mn tonne per year (tpy) make inroads into emerging Asian markets for the
LNG import terminal and a 4.5-GW power plant super-chilled fuel. According to JERA’s statement,
in the northern Vietnamese city of Haiphong. it will also explore renewable investment opportu-
According to the newspaper, JERA will be nities in Vietnam as it advances its LNG-to-power
responsible for building the facility and supply- business there and explores other opportunities
ing LNG – potentially redirecting it from Japan for collaboration with local companies.
in the event of a shortage. Vietnam, for its part, is increasingly focused
The investment ratio and other details of the on LNG-to-power as part of its energy transi-
project are still being worked out, according to tion. The country has several LNG-to-power
Nikkei Asia, but the newspaper added that it is projects at various stages of development and is
anticipated to cost billions of dollars. Work on aiming to begin LNG imports this year.™

Week 09 04•March•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P9